Kopi Tiam @ Lavender

Me and Jigga Man just came out of a very difficult situation. We were hungry and we decided to walk to the nearby Lavender Kopi Tiam.

Like the bitterness of my childhood, the prawn noodles were upsetting. Sweet when it really wasn't supposed to and only when everything goes wrong. We also ordered a oyster omelette. Let's put it this way, the omelette was floating a good layer of grease. Fail.

Only when we walked out I saw the line at the won tan noodle store. Regret.

Taiwan Delight @ T3

Besides discovering my sexuality and democracy in the United States. The most important thing I discovered was Taiwanese Scallion Pancakes. I stay with my aunt during the holidays and she had a friend that could make those wonderful, fantastic, magnificent, beauties by hand and I swear, I could eat them the whole day.

Imagine with me if you could, many years later, I'm back in Singapore, I'm hungry and at the airport, because my house is so small and we don't have coffee that my wife insists that we go to the airport to people watch and read. I see these wonderful pancakes and order them.

Mistake.

They were overdone, unfluffy (if there's such a word) and unimaginative. The starchy vermicelli thing that I ordered wasn't much better.

Torisho Taka by Aoki

Jigga man and B hardly ever let me down when they decide a destination for dinner and last Friday was no different. The place. Gallery Hotel. The restaurant. Torisho Taka by Aoki.

As some of you already know, I'm kinda snobby. So we were seated right by the door, the very area where people are refused entrance to this restaurant if you didn't make a reservation or the restaurant was full. A word of advice to my readers. Make a reservation.

Its a Yakitori joint, so it has to be smoky, have loud noises, and Japanese men in their late 40s drinking themselves graciously silly. The service was impeccable and I would say first class. The dishes, even though I only bothered to take 3 pictures, most if not all the dishes were lovely.

The grilled yellow tail cheek was soft, fresh and to die for. The Yakitori was above average, I wouldn't say that in a bad way but compared to the other dishes they served, the spot light was taken away from the Yakitori. The event of the night was the grilled rice with plum and broth. I'm not over reacting here but it was in my opinion, for the night, the most unusual, pleasant but delightful thing I've had in awhile. It surprised me in a very pleasant way. The dish is served with cooked rice put together into a triangle shape and grilled, then placed in a bowl with raw pieces of chicken and spring onion. The broth comes in a little pot that you pour into the bowl, cooking the chicken and cooking the rice for the third time. It still blows my mind just thinking about it because a dish so simple, so clean, and it makes plum taste magnificent.

My personal discovery of the night was the Yebisu All Malt Beer. I know that whenever you eat a particular cuisine, you need to drink beverage from the country. This Yebisu beer went with every Yakitori stick brilliantly. It complemented the dishes perfectly without taking away or adding unnecessary flavors or tannins to the sublime food.

The only downside I feel to this restaurant.

3 Numbers.

$440.

Ramen Santouka @ Central Mall

I'm turning Japanese. I think I'm turning Japanese. I really think so.

Santouka Ramen at Central Mall is a semi new joint where the fantastic and magical flavors of Japanese ramen is accentuated. For the regular Ramen fans, this new place might represent a new style of serving Ramen. But to me, sometimes Ramen is just Ramen.

I ordered the limited pork cheek with soy broth Ramen. Maybe I am being picky here but the soup was slightly salty and I didn't know why the sesame seeds were in my soup when I don't normally willingly put them in myself. Noodles were thicker than normal ( I think some people like this.) but the cheek was lovely. Problem is I kept tasting the soup a couple hours after the meal because either the MSG was too much in the soup or I just had a very dry sensation in my mouth.

My personal preference is still Marutaramen at Central. I think I need to go Liang Court and try the Ramen inside Meiyu again!

Hill street Char Kway Teow in Bedok South

I'm with my ex colleague new neighbor SOTONG and he asked me where to go for lunch. I decided to bring him to my new old favorite place for lunch around our place and the very reason why I suggested this place in Bedok South while talking about home renovations is because of the Hill Street Char Kway Teow at the market across from Temasek Junior College.

The long wait is very much worth the while. The Chinese sausage, bean sprouts, and egg noodles, come together in a beautiful fried melody of domestic goodness with a mixture of crunchiness and sweet dark soy sauce.

If only all Char Kway Teows tasted like this!

Pause Your Life For A Moment

I'm just regurgitating what everyone else has said at some point in time.

Don't sell your life to The Corporation.

Count the cost. Always.

Though it's not always about the money.

Lovers, friends, family.

Make a promise.

In your life, you'll love them more.

viva la vida.

Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee thats not at Lor 29 or at Geylang ...

Along the sunny East Coast Road, there sits a Hokkien Mee Store that claims to be the Geylang Lor 29 store even though it's not really on Geylang Lor 29. I have tried the Hokkien Mee store at Lor 29 but I don't remember how it tastes!

But the store along East Coast Road, the Hokkien Mee is EXCELLENT. The service is alright. The only problem I have with the store is that whenever I go in the evening, they always run out of the essential ingredients like squid or prawns. Besides that, the Hokkien Mee is top notch.

There are several variations of the Hokkien Mee, this variety has more pork lard, and fried to a slightly drier mix but still moist enough to taste the succulence of the dish. I'd always visit this store for Hokkien Mee.

Soon Heng Fishball Noodles

So here I was waiting for my wife on a Saturday afternoon at Milenia Walk. Besides torturing myself by not going for the BMW free test drive, I tortured myself by ordering a bowl of Soon Heng Fishball noodles.

Noodles were overdone. Too much ketchup and why the MSG soup?

Random Nasi Briyani

I was about to meet my customer but I was 2 hours early. I walked the entire stretch of food stalls along Upper Paya Lebar Road looking for lunch and I decided on Nasi Briyani.

Yes, I am in an Indian food phase.

The Indian food wasn't very good and I still ordered another plate of mutton curry.

The total cost of meal was $10 + 2 cans of green tea.

I accept your Murtabak Challenge ...

This is normally how lunch with my colleagues go. We go out. We eat.

But this time, there was a challenge, the boys, (I work in the I.T. industry, so most of the time, my colleagues are fellow dudes.) We head to Simpang Bedok for lunch and we started ordering from our Indian store. They knew that I haven't had local food in awhile and so we order the works of Nasi Goreng, Prata, Nasi Briyani, Magi Goreng, Malay Chicken Rice and then we ordered the mother of all murtabaks. All this for 6 people.

The Murtabak was, a quarter of the table big, a quarter of the finger high, and it took 2 quarters of an hour to get to our table. But it was worth it.

Mmmmm ... Indian Food.

Skinny White Pizza @ Suntec

Or you can call it places I go with my wife when I meet her for lunch. Skinny Pizza. Why would anyone want to eat another color pizza? Yes, you xenophobic maniac, I AM talking to you. I like Pizza, but I seem to think that this pizza was created by women, for women, through women.

So how was the food? Don't order the soup. Bad. Fries? I didn't taste the truffle oil. Pizza? It was surprisingly good.I liked it. As I opened up my mind to accept that I have just tasted a non red pizza, I shed a tear, and had a dream ...

As I was surrounded by tables of women, and an unevenly matched "attractive quotient," couple; I remembered that in Singapore, we are a land that accepts people of all kinds, from all planets, and even though the eggplant was slightly under cooked and I think there is too much onions, I still accepted the pizza. And when I did, the pizza opened up itself to me.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed my half of the pizza but still secretly feeling rather uncomfortable, I left the restaurant in a huff, into the arms of lady liberty, to get a coffee.

Post Script: Just found out from the wife that this is actually next to a strip joint! Surprise Surprise.

First thing I ate when I came back from the US ...

I do bad things when I'm left alone. Just the other day, I think I gave to charity while walking along Orchard road. So what do I do when I came back from the United States? I walk into Aston's and I ordered a Singaporean American Steak. So what's the difference between Singaporean American Steak and American American steak? Singapore American steak is awful. It tastes like corn. Really.

And on the topic of Aston's, there should an age limit, like you have to be 21 and under to walk actually eat there.

TV Tribute: Best Beer Maker in the World

Yes. I do use the word Maker often.

So the real reason why I went back to the US was because my dear friend, and best beer maker in the world - knarf knarf, was getting married and I had to be there. It was a great, simple and wonderful wedding, and fun to catch up with many of my college friends.

To a life time of adventures for you and Ms Shepherd! ( I haven't thought of any cool nicknames yet. Sorry!)

Arby's

We were in a dilemma. We wanted to see our friend in Bonner, we were running late as we didn't know how to get there and our friend had only a limited time as she was working that day. When we finally got there, we were stuck wondering what we could eat for a quick catch up and lunch.

Our choices were Arby's, Mickey D's, random sports bar, and bad Chinese food. I was craving some roast beef sandwich so where else? 5 for $5 roast beef sandwich. You think I'm kidding? I haven't had Arby's in years and it was good.

Actually, the food didn't matter. What was so much more important is that we managed to catch up with a dear friend that we haven't seen in forever.

Roast beef sandwich is excellent. Much better than most roast beef sandwich chains.

Sylas & Maddy's

One of the best things about Lawrence, Kansas is small business. And what better small business than Sylas & Maddy's Home made Ice Cream?

The picture was taken of the 2 models inside the store having Ice Cream.

Oh, the Ice Cream is excellent. It's so good, that my wife, even in the coldest winter, would still walk into the store and buy it.

Famous Dave's BBQ

Have you been placed in this predicament before? You go to a place that is famous for something but you never really had a chance to have it until you force yourself to do it on the last day and you desperately try to fit this place or this food into your schedule when its almost impossible?

You see, America, or at least many parts of it, its beginning to look the same. Whenever, you saw a strip mall of Barnes & Nobles, you'll get an Old Navy, Best Buy, and maybe a Home Depot around the corner. Its our last day in Kansas and like a typical Singaporean, we wanted to shop. M&G (my in-laws) were so nice to meet our every demands during this trip that they went with us to Legends to shop for any last minute things we might have forgotten.

I promise I won't go on a diatribe about the shopping condition in America or more specifically the Midwest but thank goodness, there was a Famous Dave's BBQ around the corner and M&G knew the condition of my desires and we managed to have a late lunch at Famous Dave's.

Coincidentally, this is the same Famous Dave's where I had my rehearsal dinner for my wedding, and for all those who know me, yes, I am that country, and alittle rock and roll, so this was a happy place for me.

We ordered our lunch special combinations and I have to say, Kansas BBQ, I love you. And also adding," You're my rock, boo."

I love the many BBQ sauce choices. The succulent ribs, the hearty corn, the always mouthful of corn bread and where's my pulled pork at? Like my Kansas trip can't get any better after seeing friends and family, I get to eat BBQ.

Yummmmm ....... You always want to end everything with a great taste in the mouth.

Free State Brewery

Free State Brewery or FSB for short has alot of good vibes. One of my first few serious dates with my then girlfriend, and now wife was at FSB. A couple of days ago, I just had one of my great friend's pre-wedding lunch at FSB. And now, we were invited by the Mothergoats to hang out for dinner with their Seattle friends. And what better place to show Lawrence than FSB?

Just to set the expectation right. It's a brewery. So you really want to just order beer and the food, well, the food is good but not exceptional because, hey, it's a brewery. I'm not a "beer-dy," so I can't tell you how good the beer is but what I ordered, "The Cyclists," was excellent. Some people in other parts of the world call it Shandy or my Singapore colleagues call it a sorority girl drink, I call it the beer I would order because I like beer like I like my women. Blond, bubbly and sweet. A combination of beer and lemonade provides a fresh and crisp after taste to any hot summer day.

I would highly recommend the chicken strips, though not pictured, everybody loved it. The Black Bean Quesadillas were highly recommended by a dude sitting behind us, as he overheard some of the out of towners wondering what to order, and yes, Kansas people are THAT nice, I ordered the chicken pesto pasta, which was actually decent, Mothergoat thought that the steak was just okay, (I believe that's code for average and deep inside, I think he regretted ordering it.) The wife ordered the Tortellini, and she thought it was average as well.

Lesson? FSB is still a great place to go to. Expect a long wait during weekend and nights. If you want to people watch on a weekday night, this is the place to be, the crowd and energy is young, not necessarily loud and the beer, I keep hearing from the other beer snobs is still excellent. Just watch what you order for your meal and you should be set.

I would still recommend FSB. The prices are reasonable. Ambiance of the restaurant and bar is cosy and not overtly polite.

PaPa Keno's Pizza in Lawrence

Pizza. I love pizza. Pizza reminds me of the great times I've had. Pizza is awesome. And one place that brings back great love, memories and awesomeness is PaPa Keno's Pizzeria.

We were back in my college town of Lawrence, Kansas (Home of the 2008 NCAA Basketball Champions and 2008 Orange Bowl Champions) ((Go Hawks!)) for a short period of time to visit Mr and Mrs Goat whom had just moved back to L town the day before.

What better place to have lunch in Larryville then Keno's? They serve made to order pizza by the slice, which by the way I suspect can feed one African family easily and have trays as plates, because what better plate than something that you can use in a fight and you can really hurt someone with it?

Service was as much as you'll expect in a college town but pizza was still pipping hot, fresh, and Italian American goodness. I ordered the works and a coke and yes, it is still as good as I recall.

By the way, on the topic of pizza smells, why does every Sbarro I walk by always end up smelling like a toilet?

Best Meal in Kansas.

As I sat in the drive way of my friends the Hamels after finishing a ridonculous meal. I couldn't help but think that my friends Hatty and Pletchers should have their own cook book.

After developing dairy and soy allergies during pregnancy, Hatty had to change her diet and can I say she looked way skinny and good? (I still love you more Honey K) and she cooked our meal with those dietary restrictions.

I hate coleslaw but that was the best coleslaw I have ever had. It tasted fresh and fruity. Unusual one might think but awesome. I don't like potato salad but the tanginess and creaminess of the potatoes were delightful. And ribs. Hmmm ... ribs were juicy and contained all the smoky goodness of Kansas BBQ. And to top it all off, chocolate cake with fresh raspberry. (Faints)

I always believe that anything cooked with dedication and love can always be tasted and today it was a mouthful. My greatest fear has always been growing up. When the Hamels put Mr T to sleep, and we started having dinner, I felt old. I was that child that had to go to sleep when my parent's friends came over. But if in growing up, I get to eat such lovely food, I'm happy.

You see, the wife and I were many hours late for our dinner appointment with the Hamels and we didn't know what to expect. But I guess in the end, we should have expected (Oh, I just drooled again.)

Sideways note. American Pinot Noir is climbing up my list of wines to drink. The Colorado label Carlson Vineyards matched very well with everything for dinner and only costs $20 USD

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Which of the following statements are true?

a) Yes. I do have friends in many places.

b) Yes. Deep Dish Pizza is awesome.

c) Yes. Chicago is a beautiful city.

d) Yes. You suck if you disagree with a,b & c.

I have many pre-conceived notions. I think that Godzilla exists and we should always respect Big Foot. If there was a fight between Captain Kirk from Starship Enterprise and Chewbacca, the taller guy wins. And if Spock ever had a conversation with Yoda, it would be like watching any political debate.

With that being said, my college friends live in the wonderful city of Chicago. They took the time out of their busy schedules to hang out for a few precious hours and brought us around Millennium Park, best park in Chicago hands down and brought us to Lou Malnati's, Chicago's other big name Deep Dish Pizza restaurant.

I don't really like thinking about the Deep Dish Pizza. In my mind, pizzas should be respected and not be made into a casserole. It should be crispy yet foldable, delightful and not overly simplified. The Deep Dish Pizza invokes, in my opinion, unnecessary name calling like "Butter crusted Pizza," and "different from the other forms of pizzas," or "Pizza Hut's ugly fat sister."

As delightful as the city of Chicago is, I knew deep within my mind grapes that the true test of the city is in their most famous culinary cuisine. Our gracious hosts guided us to Lou Malnati's and once I force fed the pizza in my mouth, it was as if my whole life passed, sounds of glass shattering and zits popping and then a blank.

It was good.

Now why we ordered 2 large when there was 7 of us, I really don't know. We only managed to finish 1 pizza. And yes, 1 slice was enough for me but I had 2. While walking out though, I did see a family of 3 finishing 1 large pizza. The point being this ...

Brennan's Market

After our exercise at Kopp's, the clan crossed the street and gathered at Brennan's Market.

I love this place. And I wanted to buy so many things in the store even though I was already so full.

Fruits smelled fantastic, Wisconsin produce is brilliant.

It's a must go.

Kopp"s Frozen Custard

In Wisconsin or some might call it the land flowing with milk and dispensing custard, and some might say maybe even say makers of great cheese, (isn't this just all a variation of milk you might think? And yes you might.) I was given a wonderful opportunity to taste some of it's natural goodness, except cheese of course, I don't like cheese like Wallace and Gromit.

Kopp's Frozen Custard is one such place that serves natural Wisconsin goodness. Considered to be one of the favorites by Papa G of (M&G), we took a gander and showed up.

I had been having burgers and brats the last few days, and when the G clan hit Kopp's during lunch, we reminded ourselves that we were going to treat ourselves with more burgers and brats later during dinner, so we had to order something else besides burgers.

Standing in the waiting room as if I was an anxious father to be at a hospital awaiting for the birth of my new child, me and the mrs took a deep breath and for a second had forgotten what we ordered. She ordered a cheese burger and I ordered, wait for it, a double hamburger. As if I couldn't stuff more meat in my mouth, I went for the jugular. Lola and K-Bo ordered the fish sandwich, of whom pictures I did not take because I felt a sense of disrespect on behalf of the state of Wisconsin.

Burgers. Check. Onion Rings. Check. Arteries clogged? Check.

The burger were juicy and firm. It's candor was both lyrical and erotic. And to top everything off, and as if my body couldn't take anymore calories in this wonderful Wisconsin visage, the wife ordered a turtle sundae and Lola got some custard with nuts.

Now I don't normally drink milk (actually, I have not drank milk the last 20 some years of my life), but if milk tasted like custard and was frozen, milk would be awesome. Can a customer ever complain that there is too much chocolate, caramel and pecans in a custard? I don't think so but can I just raise my arm to wonder, can I have some more?

Do cows a favor and go to Kopp's.

TV Centerfold Caption: Got Hand?

King Linus having a feast!

Santa Fe Cafe

Santa Fe Cafe is a favorite breakfast place for my in laws, lets call them Mr and Mrs G (M&G) and true to their word, they brought us there for breakfast one Saturday morning.

The wait took several minutes but it was all good. It was crowded (always a good sign) and the breakfast smelled proper. Once seated, we ordered the french toasts, omelette's, pancakes and corn beef hash for myself.

Let me explain myself before I go on, I have been in a late funk in taste and my taste buds have been yearning for something spicy. So once the corn beef hash showed up, off went the screw top of the Tabasco sauce and down it's poured into my corn beef hash, and paint me naive, but hot dog! It was a good combination.

As my in laws and wife stared at me (in my mind), I pondered at the wonder of the first person who ever put Tabasco sauce into their corn beef hash and wondered how amazing and strange yet delightful this combination was.

Breakfast, it's what with Tabasco.

McCormick and Schmick's

In our continuing adventures with B Dub, we head to the Plaza for some shopping and a walking exercise in patience as I was shopping with 2 ladies. It was lunch time and this time, because I was more awake, I made a more diligent decision.

McCormick and Schmidt's or so the wife calls it is a seafood restaurant. Now, my avid readers must be thinking, the gourmand comes from an island with exceptional seafood, will this be another faux paus? Fortunately, it was not.

We ordered the seafood Mac and Cheese, the oyster sampler, clam chowder, fried shrimp and crab cakes and I have to say each choice was good. The oysters are fresh and wonderful, my wife swears by the seafood mac and cheese, the clam chowder was slightly too corny, but that's just me, and the crab cakes were the best I've had, granted I haven't had many crab cakes before. Who would have thought a restaurant in the mid west serving good seafood? Its like me walking around Singapore asking for American BBQ.

The more important thing is that it was great weather, we sat outside, had a good time chatting and I felt like a grown up! *gulp*

The service was impeccable, and the combination of friend and being on holiday makes it an exceptional experience.

Mild-ly wildly recommended.